Do you want to be taken out tonight? Do you want to feel alright? Well, Little Boots is prepared to make and follow through on those promises with her new album, Hands.
She’s been around for awhile but only early this month did she release Hands in America. Why are we always the last to get great music!? Mailo introduced us to this songstress awhile ago and now we finally get to hear a whole album!
“New In Town” is a great high energy track, but it doesn’t start out that way. It starts off with some abrupt keys that start and stop and Little Boots’ voice dancing around these vicious beats and keys, but the chorus is what gets you moving! “I’m gonna take you out tonight/I’m gonna make you feel alright/I don’t have a lotta money but we’ll be fine/No, I don’t have a lotta money but I’ll show you a real good time!” There’s so much going on in this opening track and it introduces you to the bombardment of sounds and beats that she uses to get you moving!
Another great track is “Stuck on Repeat,” a deep, dark-sounding track. The synthesizers surrounding what sounds like a pounding headache give this track a borderline overwhelming feel. But don’t worry; it only sounds like a pounding headache, it doesn’t give you one! This track has a dark feel but once again, she gets you moving. The eerie voices behind all the effects mixed with Little Boots’ soft voice gives the track an interesting feel. I picture a bunch of sweaty people dancing in a dark club to this song … And I’m totally into it!
When I first heard “Mathematics,” I thought, “What the hell? Who sings about math? I hate math!” But it’s such a testament to the clever lyrics she comes up with! She uses great mathematical lingo to describe a relationship she wishes she had. With lines like, “Don’t know my Fibonacci or Pythagoras/But the only formula I know will work for us is that/When we’re together in the sum of our parts/It’s far greater than what we added up to at the start,” how could you deny the greatness of this song? As a mathematically-challenged writer, I didn’t want to like this song but it’s great! The bouncy, short synths add the flavor to this mix and go nicely over the deep tones. Of course, Hands is a dance album so we shouldn’t expect the lyrics to have any deeper meaning. But it’s nice to see a little cleverness in the mix!
Recently, I got a chance to see Little Boots live at the Glass House in Pomona. Michael (of drinkcast and L.A. Adventure fame) got us a couple of tickets so we had a few drinks at the Glass House Bar (located right next to the venue) then went to the show. Unfortunately, the drinks were probably the only reason why I had a decent time at all. Though I absolutely love Hands, Little Boots didn’t translate as well as I had hoped on stage. I loved that there was a drum kit, guitarist, bassist and pianist along with beat machines for this concert of dance music normally made with a ton of machines. For the encore she played a lovely “acoustic” version of “Stuck on Repeat” with just the piano. As she was playing it, I was thinking, “There’s no way she’s going to cheat the audience and play one of her biggest dance tracks on the piano …” And what do you know, it segued nicely into the real, “dance-your-ass-off” version. So the concert ended on a great note, at least.
I think what killed it though was the fact that Little Boots’ voice was just too loud. It overpowered the music and when it comes to a dance artist, you want to be engulfed in these beats! The whole set lacked energy and the rest of her band looked straight up bored! Little Boots was a little low on energy as well, but you could tell that she was at least trying unlike the band. I really feel bad because her shows probably aren’t always like this. This particular date was the penultimate show of the tour, so they’ve been playing this set for awhile. Not to mention that Hands was actually released a few years ago in Europe, so she’s probably been playing this same exact set for three or four years straight! No wonder they seemed bored! We still had a good time dancing to the beats but I just wished some of the focus was taken off her voice and that there was more energy because Michael, myself and the four or five gays who were dancing our asses off just weren’t enough to get the band energized enough to put on a great set.
As far as the album itself goes, Hands is perfect to get down to and once you hear it, you’ll immediately picture yourself in a club surrounded by erratic dancers! These great creative beats and sounds being displayed here definitely make this album one worth hearing. Apart from slowing down a bit more than I like and the questionable live show, Hands is one of the more fun albums I’ve heard this year and will definitely put Little Boots on the map in America!
Buy the album at our record store on Amazon
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